“Mom, can I spend the summer at Sophie’s?” I asked, trying to widen my eyes and make the best puppy dog face I could.

“Why on earth would you want to do that?” she asked, “You’re already going to be behind at Flos, so you need to study more. You should have just stayed at Salem. Sophie is naturally smart, she doesn’t need to, but you, while other people are out having fun, you need to study. Your other friend, Katie, is smart too. I don’t know why they wanted to befriend you.”

“But mom, Professor Sigler said I was already at the top of my class in DADA,” I whined.

“I’m sure she was just saying that to be nice,” my mom shrugged.
I rolled my eyes, and ran up to my room, and slammed the door, just like the stereotypical teenager and owled Sophie.

Hey Sophie,
My mom’s not letting me stay at yours, she’s locking me up in a tower and making me practice magic for the rest of the summer. She’s already upset that I chose to go to Flos, and she’s even more mad then when she found out I had magic. Can you get your mom to talk to her?
O

“Okay Sheldon,” I said, “send this to Sophie please.”

Yes, I named my owl Sheldon, after Sheldon, on Big Bang Theory. I’m a nerd, sue me. He came back within ten minutes with a response.

Liv,
My mom’s going to use the tellyfone and call your mom. Your mom loves my mom, just because she works with muggles. Makes her seem “normal” or something. But anyway, I hope you can come, mom said we (me, you, and Katie) can go up to Britain and stay in this place called the Leaky Cauldron a week before school starts. It’d be good if you could get away from your house. Your mom is kind of scary, and Jenna and your dad aren’t home this summer right? Expect a call from my mom soon.
S

As soon as I’d finished reading her signature, the phone rang. I waited for my mom to pick up. I heard her talking to Sophie’s mom, Ellie. Ellie was one of the coolest adults I’d ever met. She didn’t act like a kid, but could keep up with the newest trends and pretty much let Sophie do whatever she wanted, not that Sophie would break any laws or overstep any boundaries. That was my job.

I heard my mom hang up and come into my room.

“Olive?” she said, creaking open the door and opening it a crack.

“Yes mother?” I asked politely.

“That was Sophia’s mother,” she said, “she was speaking to me about the summer arrangement. She said she would make sure you and Sophia studied and that you guys stayed out of trouble. You can go, especially because Jenna’s interning this summer, your father is on business trips, and I’m especially busy.”

“Thank you!” I said sweetly, “I’ll miss you guys a lot.”

In reality, I’d already packed. It wasn’t so much as I hated my family as they disliked me. According to my mom, I was a difficult child, a stain on her reputation. Jenna was the crown jewel of the family, the perfect daughter—pretty, smart, popular, and most importantly—non-magical. Dad was alright, but when he was home he and mom fought constantly. That’s probably why he traveled so much. They only stay together for me and Jenna’s sake, I’d much prefer they got a divorce. Jenna and I were barely home anyway, me being at Salem and now Flos, Jenna off at Harvard. Mom and dad didn’t marry for love, or so mom says, but I like to believe that they were once in love. I’m a secret romantic. Don’t tell anyone.

Mom is, in the nicest of terms, over bearing. Nothing I do could ever satiate her, and I stopped trying in second year. She was upset at my magical ability, because it made me a kind of a “freak” in her eyes. Once she realized magic wasn’t something she could control, she became hellbent on making sure I was the best, but apparently I didn’t try hard enough to please her. And then there were the behavioral problems, which annoyed her to no end.

She hated that she couldn’t brag about my accomplishments to her knitting circle or PTA group or whatever she devoted her time to. Most of the community believed I was a difficult child at reform school, and she hated the sympathy that she got. “Oh Laura, Jenna is so smart. And your other daughter, Olive, how is she?” was a regular occurrence.

“I can drive you to Sophia’s house tomorrow,” mom said.

“Thank you,” I said, “you’ll have to excuse me, because I have to pack.”

“Of course,” she said, “we wouldn’t want you forgetting something and me having to bring it for you.”

I kept my sickly sweet smile as she left the room. I was used her constant sharp remarks at me. They had occurred often, ever since I was a small child. They became increasingly more frequent over the years, especially when I started to distance myself more and more from the muggle world. I tried keeping in touch with the muggle world, to try to please her, but also for Jenna’s sake. It worked for a while, but then I discovered this thing called the internet. Merlin, it was like another type of magic. It was addicting. And of course, since I was happy and it detracted from my studies, that pissed her off.

I spent the rest of the day moping around and trying to start some of my Flos summer homework. There was so much. I eventually gave up—okay it was after about ten minutes. What can I say, I’m a nerd imposter.

I had dinner with mom, where I pretty much picked at my food as she yelled at me for eating so much meat and no vegetables. What can I say, I’m really a five year old in a thirteen year olds body.

“Olive!” My mom said impatiently.

“Wh-at?” I said.

“Where do you plan on celebrating your fourteenth birthday?” she asked.

“Maybe in Britain?” I said, “Katie, Sophie, and I were planning on going there a few weeks before Flos.”

“Okay,” she said, “as long as you don’t make me plan something. I’m already as busy enough as it is.”

Nice to know you care so much about me too, mother dearest.
I went upstairs and went to bed early (nine o’clock), to make up for all of the sleep I’d missed out on while I was at Salem. I can’t say that I’d miss the school, it was a great place, but most of my friends were going to Flos anyway. Katie, Sophie, and Henry were my best friends, and I tolerated Julia and Aidan most of the time. Henry was in the Bahamas or some island, gallivanting off on some grand adventure. Rich bastard.

Oh, another one of my problems. Insomnia. Most of the time when I go to sleep, I just end up just lying in bed and thinking about random shit. My problems, things I wanted to happen, things I could have said. I’ve read the books, and they all say to picture your problems as balloons, and watch them fly away. You know what I say to that? I say it’s bullshit.